Today in History: United States comes under attack

In 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

In 1814, an American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

In 1936, Boulder Dam — later renamed the Hoover Dam — began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator.

In 1941, groundbreaking took place for the Pentagon. In an anti-Semitic speech, Charles A. Lindbergh told an America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa, that “the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration” were pushing the United States toward war.

In 1954, the Miss America pageant made its network TV debut on ABC.

In 1967, the comedy-variety program “The Carol Burnett Show” premiered on CBS.

In 1972, the Munich Summer Olympics, where 11 Israeli athletes and several others were killed, ended.

In 1973, Chilean President Salvador Allende (ah-YEN’-day) died during a violent military coup.

In 1997, Scotland voted to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.

In 2006, in a prime-time address, President George W. Bush invoked the memory of the victims of the 9/11 attacks as he staunchly defended the war in Iraq, though he acknowledged that Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the attacks.

In 2008, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama put aside politics as they visited ground zero together on the anniversary of 9/11 to honor its victims.

In 2012, a mob armed with guns and grenades launched a fiery nightlong attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost and a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 anniversary event at ground zero in New York after feeling “overheated,” according to her campaign, and hours later her doctor disclosed that the Democratic presidential nominee had pneumonia.

In 2022, Javier Marías, Spain’s most prestigious novelist for most of his life, died at age 70